In many ways Blackburn with Darwen Council in Lancashire is ahead of thegame when it comes to children's services reform.
As early as 2002 it agreed a strategy to develop a borough-wide networkof children's centres to ensure every community had integratedservices.
It is now well ahead of Government targets with 12 out of 13 centres upand running and the remaining centre due to open this month. Theauthority has been able to push on because the strategy was backed atthe highest level, says Gladys Rhodes, assistant director, children'ssocial care and early years.
It was vital to draw in a broad range of stakeholders includingregeneration, employment, housing, and leisure. "From the beginningwe've engaged with people who might not have realised they had a vestedinterest," says Rhodes.
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